Prestige Skin Care Resonates for Consumers

“It’s been a great year for Lancôme and innovation and performance have been driving the category; serums have been very strong. We’ll finish the year with $40 million at retail," said Galfo, citing the strong performance of Lancôme’s eye care category as well as the success of Lancôme’s Visionnaire launch, an anti-aging skin corrector.

“Newness, innovation and technology in the prestige market are key," added Yamagishi-Dressler. "This includes anti-aging and premium products. The customer today is looking for beauty targeted solutions.” Ford supported reinvention, saying, “What’s old can be new,” citing Lauder’s Advanced Night Repair Serum. “It’s been in the market for 30 years, and we’ve been able to introduce it to women around the world. We have been able to express older products in a new way.” Ford, who spearheaded the launch of Advanced Night Repair Synchronized Recovery Complex, also created innovative 360-degree marketing programs for Re-Nutriv Ultimate lift Age-Correcting Collection and the Double Wear Foundation franchise.

Yamagishi-Dressler, noted the ongoing potential and growth in brightening and BB creams (what she considers a "killer category"), saying, “The brightening category will continue to grow, as well as the successful BB cream category. The success of the BB cream indicates that the customer wants products that offer multiple benefits. These areas, as well as growth in at-home treatment products with professional level efficacy for use in the comfort of the customer’s home, will also grow.”

Galfo said women seek performance in their beauty products, and in response to a query about whether BB creams might be cannibalizing other products, she said, “Women want instant results without losing long term effect, so better-performing or enhanced moisturizers are sought by women. BB creams are not cannibalizing, as women want choices.” Ford concurred, noting that women are taking a lot better care of their skin, so BB creams are a “perfect solution.”